


One for Each Shoulder

by Decisions_Decisions



Series: A Chat with Myself [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Implied Relationships, Magical Realism, Other, Post-The Reichenbach Fall, Pre-The Empty Hearse, The title exlains it a bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-22
Updated: 2015-07-31
Packaged: 2018-04-10 14:13:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4394975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Decisions_Decisions/pseuds/Decisions_Decisions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John never believes it when Jim says he just wants to have a chat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

‘It’s been far too long, it’s time we had ourselves a little chat. You know where to find me, I’ll be waiting.’ John put down his phone looking over the text with something resembling resignation. He looked over the dusky city skyline from his vantage point on the rooftop.

“You’re late.” He said suddenly turning to look at the shadows from the open door into the building.

“You know I never did set up a time.” Jim said stepping out of the darkness with a smirk.

“But you did say you’d be here and I’ve been waiting for hours.” John said turning back to look out over the city.

“Well you know puppies to kick, people to kill, crimes to oversee, I have a very busy schedule.” Jim said stepping up beside him and they stood in silence for a moment that could have been seconds, or hours, or days. 

“It’s funny isn’t it? I never thought I’d miss this place at all, but after so long out there it’s nice to be home.” Jim said suddenly as he stretched his arms over his head with a groan.

John nodded curtly, he wasn’t really in the mood to put up with Jim's antics.

He looked over at John with a dark grin and spoke with a mocking kindness that grated on John's nerves. “Don’t tell me you never wanted to come back to stay, I could see it, back at the pool. You looked so lost out there in the big bad world, is it any wonder that I’d want to send you back where you belonged?”

“I don’t want to stay here.” John cut him off his temper flaring beneath the surface. “This isn’t where I need to be. He needs me out there and you can’t trap me Jim, you’re not that powerful.”

“When are you going to learn that you can’t lie to me Johnny boy?” Jim laughed his lips twisting into something that was almost a grin. 

He leaned toward John getting into his personal space with gleeful malice.“You want to stay here, you really do, but Sherlock never listened to you here did he? He kept you out of the way, hidden behind your door under lock and key. You had to scream and shout just to get him to notice you, but he never did that to me. Instead he listened to me, he wanted my advice. He let me wander free through this palace like I owned it. That’s why we made our little deal in the first place, so you could make yourself heard and I could have some real fun.”

John’s eyes narrowed his voice holding an undercurrent of steel. “What are you playing at?”

“I’m just telling the truth.” Jim said with a razor smile that grew more genuine as he leaned closer to the other man. 

“And the truth is that when this is all over and done I’ll be the one wearing the crown. In this little game of ours the chips were always stacked in my favor. You’ve done a good job of catching up, but I’m still so far ahead of you. We both know how this is going to end.” Jim said in a singsong tone waving pointed fingers along with the tune of his voice.

John snapped out his arm as though he was wiping away everything Jim had just said. “No you might have the lead, but he’s changing for the better. He’s trying. He won’t give in to you Jim, he hasn’t given in yet. You give him less credit than he deserves and in the end you might not get to wear your crown after all.” 

“Hmm, is that so?” Jim asked with a thoughtful hum. “You really shouldn’t get ahead of yourself; you don’t even know what I really want.”  
John laughed, he laughed as though he’d been told a joke, but it broke seconds after it started replaced with a coldness Jim was proud of. “You want to destroy me.”  
Jim laughed his fingers reaching up to brush John’s chin and them trail up the side of his face. He gripped suddenly his fingers pressing painfully into the soft skin of John’s cheek. “You really don’t know what I want. I don’t want to destroy you Johnny Boy. I want to break you. I want to burn you.” He said whispering the last sentence like a lover his nails drawing thin lines of blood from John’s cheek.

“What’s the difference?” John said glaring up at Jim even though he made no attempt to remove the hand on his face.

“Oh no John don’t put up that act here, Sherlock’s not around you can be smart here. No one’s going to know but me.” Jim said releasing John with a manic grin.

“This is his palace. He’s always around.” John said resisting the urge to rub at the abused flesh.

“He never comes here though.” Jim said leaning down to look at the pavement in front of the building. He smiled like a Cheshire cat at the dark stains on the grey concrete. “I wonder why?”

“Is that why you wanted me here, to gloat that your big plan worked?” John spat.

“That’s not the reason I called you.” He looked at the disbelief on John’s face stopped and rolled his eyes. “Well it’s not the only reason. Every day Sherlock’s falling more and more into darkness. He’s doing so many naughty things, but here you are still standing. I wanted to see you like this one last time, because this is the last time I’ll ever see you like this. Sherlock’s falling and he’s going to drag you down with him. And the best thing about it is that the only reason he fell was to protect you because he loves you. Which is really narcissistic when you think about it.”

Jim pointed out on the horizon where storm clouds were beginning to gather. “That is just the beginning, the East Wind is coming and Sherlock can only take so much before he begins to break. You know what’s happening, you can feel it. Your leg is getting worse, the tremble in your hand is returning, it makes it easier to fake that you don’t know Sherlock’s still alive doesn’t it. You know what it means.”

John stood his ground as Moriarty got in his face stepping close enough to him that he could practically feel the other man breathe. “You’re winning Moriarty I will give you that, but you haven’t won.” 

“Maybe not, but doesn’t it just burn you that no matter what you do; no matter how hard you try he’ll always need me more than he’ll ever need you?” Jim said reaching out to grab John’s cheek again.

“Yes.” John ground out through his teeth his hand clenched around Moriarty’s wrist.

“Not going to deny it then, well you have seen my work, seen how much he needs the danger and the chaos. He needs to solve the puzzles, he needs to dance, and you can’t give him that. You try all you want to keep him happy and content in your little domestic life, but he still runs after me whenever I call. It’s so much more fun out there. Out there I have the whole world to play with unlike in here where I only have you. Not that you’re not fun to play with but out there you’re a much better opponent.” Jim smiled his eyes sparkling with malice. 

“You didn’t win the last time we played this game. You came close, I'll admit that, but you couldn’t beat me.” John said standing tall in spite of the pain in his leg. “What makes you certain you’re going to beat me this time?”

Jim laughed as his body began to fade into a dark shadow. “Now John that would be cheating.”

John shot up his heart hammering in his chest. He clutched at his heart and breathed heavily trying to calm down. He closed his eyes and pressed his fingers to his temples with a groan. He stood from the bed, walked into the small bathroom, and scrubbed off five crusted red trails from his face.


	2. Chapter 2

The sound of blaring alarms cut through the silence as John searched through Magnussen’ s office was the first sign that something had gone wrong. The next was a staggering but distant kind of pain in his chest and he knew that something had gone horribly wrong. He ran toward Sherlock and fell onto his knees beside him. 

“Sherlock.” He tapped his face trying to get him to respond but Sherlock didn’t react. He reached down opening up Sherlock’s suit jacket to reveal a growing red stain and his heart jumped in his chest.

“What happened to him?” John shouted glaring at Magnussen.

“He was shot.” Magnussen said as he reached for his glasses.

“By who?” John shouted even as he called nine nine nine on his phone. “Hello my friend he’s been shot, I need an ambulance.”

Jim stepped out of the shadows dressed like he’d escaped from the madhouse. He walked up behind Magnussen and hit him over the head hard enough to knock him out. He looked up at John with a frown. “He was starting to annoy me. I don’t like to be annoyed when I’m dying.”

“We’re not going to die. I called the ambulance I can keep him alive and why are you dressed like that!” John said without really thinking on it, he was far more concerned with keeping Sherlock alive until the ambulance could get there.

“I have my part to play, this is how he sees me, how he needs to see me now if we want to make it.” Jim said with a twirl like a young girl showing off a new dress. “You’ve gotten us into quite the pickle John. Don’t tell me you don’t know who did this. You aren’t that stupid.”

“This is not helping!” John shouted as he put pressure on the wound.

“I thought I was supposed to be the one getting Sherlock in trouble, but you are so much better at it than I am. I just got him to dance in our little games you got yourself a wife who put a bullet in his chest. Maybe Sherlock was onto something keeping you locked up this whole time.” Jim stumbled toward John a disappointed whine in his voice.

“And while you’re here trying to pick a fight the rest of us is bleeding out on the floor. If you don’t want us to die you should be helping me!” John’s eyes were livid as he watched Sherlock’s blood crawl through the cracks between his fingers.

Jim laughed. “I’m getting to it. I’m going to go and give him a monster to fight, a damsel to save, but he’s not going to last long with you leaching off of him like that. You should come with me.”

John shook his head pressing shaking hands to Sherlock’s chest. “I can’t go back now. He’s not going to last long if he has no one out here to help him.”

Jim laughed bitterly his lips curling into a manic smile. “And whose fault is that?” 

“Now’s not the time Jim.” John hissed through gritted teeth.

“You’re right, see you soon Johnny boy. We’re going to have another little chat when you get back.” Jim said before he faded into shadow.

John listened for the sound of sirens his hands beginning to shake and fade. “Hold on Sherlock, just hold on for me a little longer.”

He kept repeating that phrase over and over until the paramedics came and he followed them as they took Sherlock down to the ambulance. He stayed close offering what encouragement he cold staying close to Sherlock in case he began slipping. He was torn between staying where he was because it wouldn’t be easy to explain away his sudden disappearance from the ambulance and going back to the mind palace so Sherlock could draw on the full reserves of his strength. In the end he stayed where he was and tried not to panic when he began to feel things turn fuzzy. When they finally got to the hospital he was separated from Sherlock as he was wheeled into the ER on a gurney. He made his way to the toilets and locked himself in one of the stalls letting the world around him fade away.

When the world came back into focus he was in front of the battered wooden door that led to his room, from before he’d even become John. He trailed his fingers over the wood and rested his hand on the timeworn bronze doorknob. He took a deep breath and opened the door to his onetime prison, but when he stepped into the room he was surprised to find it very different than it had been. It was an almost exact replica of 221B, but there were things in this room that had never been in their flat before. Like the beehive by the window and Redbeard lying asleep on the couch. 

He could hear the sounds of the surgery, the doctors frantically trying to save Sherlock’s life, the beeping of the heart monitor, Jim singing creepily. He ran in the direction of the music flying down the halls as he searched for its source. He heard the heart monitor flat line and he shouted out Sherlock’s name. He stopped running when he heard the beeping resume as Sherlock’s heart began to beat again. His breath heaving in and out of his chest as relief flooded through him.

“You can stop now, between my encouragement and your arrival Sherlock found enough strength to hold on to what he really wants and he really doesn’t want to die.” Moriarty said sauntering toward John dressed in the suit he’d worn in the pool. “He’ll need time to recover but as long as Mary doesn’t get her hands on him he should be fine.”

“What makes you think he’s safe now?” John asked curling in on himself feeling far more defensive than he thought he had the right to be.

Jim laughed his dark eyes twinkling with mischief. “Mary won’t risk killing him with Mycroft sniffing about. Now let’s go to your room to have our little chat it’s much nicer than mine.”

John led him down the hall and held the door open for him. John walked into his room and he watched as Jim strutted through the room like it was his own. He sat down in the replica of his usual chair as Jim took the replica of Sherlock’s chair. The consultant criminal pulled an apple out of his jacket pocket and rolled it between his hands. 

“Now let’s discuss how you’re going to handle the Mary problem, because we can’t afford to let her get away with this. We’ve already established that she’s a filthy liar who lied about having your baby and tried to kill us. Now let’s move on to the root of our issue Mary needs protection and she’s willing to do anything to get it. She wants you because with you she has a shield to protect herself from Magnussen. She needs to get Sherlock out of the way so that you never figure out what she is, what she’s done. Sherlock’s going to expose her, it’s only a matter of time, and at first you should side with him. Then let her think she’s earned your forgiveness, if you don’t then she’ll finish the job she started. You let her think she’s won and leave the rest up to me. Make her think she’s safe and she’ll drop her defenses.” Jim said crossing his legs and taking a bite of his apple.

“And that’s when you strike?” John asked tilting his head toward Jim.

Jim beamed with pride. “Like a sniper through a window. She won't even know what hit her.”

**Author's Note:**

> To clarify John is Sherlock's heart and Moriarty is his darkness. Together they broke out of Sherlock's mind to battle for Sherlock in the real world. They return sometimes to talk and in Jim's case taunt John.  
> I hadn't planned on a second chapter but this one wouldn't let me go. I'm not sure if there will be anymore chapters or not but for now it's complete. John and Jim are both really mad at Mary as it is right after she shot Sherlock.  
> 


End file.
